Egyptian Arabic Dictionary: iPhone/iPad help

Introduction

The Egyptian Arabic Dictionary for iPad and iPhone contains a huge amount of
information: some of it only accessible by touching displayed items. Generally speaking,
any item that is coloured will do something if you touch it: items in black or grey
are for information only.

Navigation bar and menus

In each view, there is a navigation bar at the top of the screen. On the left,
there is usually a button that returns you to the previous view. On the
right, there is a button that gives access to the menu.

Main menu

When you touch the menu button, a menu of views appears. It looks like this:

You can either select one of the view buttons, or
press the Cancel button the return to the existing view.

Word menu

If you touch a word, you will see a menu of options that are available for this word:

If you select one of the first three options, the app will display the
requested view. If you select add to vocabulary, the word that you touched
will be added to your personal vocabulary list.
To return to the existing view, select the Cancel option.

Element menu

If you touch a grammatical element (eg noun or adjective), you will see a menu of options that are available
for this element:

If you select See examples, the app will show you examples that include
the selected grammatical element.
To return to the existing view, select the Cancel option.

Views

The app has eight information views: six of them are accessed from the
menu, and the other two by touching words in other views.

Search - look for a word in one language and see translations to the other language

Thesaurus - see a list of words with similar meanings, for example, there is a
section for foods and a sub-section for herbs.

Search view

When you first start the app, this view appears. You can usually return to
it using the Menu.

There are two stages to the search view: in the first stage, you can specify
the word to search for, and in the second stage you will see the closest matches to the word that
you are looking for.

Specifying a word

At the top left you will see a code that specifies the language that you want
to use to search for words: touch this code to change it. If EN is
displayed, the app will display english
words with similar spellings. For each similar word, it will also display the
arabic words with corresponding meanings.

Next, type in a word to look for. You don't need to spell it
exactly: in the next stage, the app will display a selection of the most
similar words. You can enter a word using the keyboard provided by the app, or
touch the Search for field and then use the system keyboard. You will probably find
it easier to use the system keyboard to type in words in your own language, and
the app keyboard if you are not so familiar with the language.

On the app keyboard, the keys are laid out in straight alphabetical order,
so that it's easier for english people to find letters on the egyptian keyboard,
and vice versa. If you select searching in arabic, you can have the keyboard
labelled either in arabic or european letters- you can change this by touching the
the keyboard code, which is next to the language code.

English users may be surprised
to see that there are no short vowels on the arabic keyboard: this is normal
when writing arabic. It is not a problem, though: for example, typing
in ktb will find both kitab and kutub

At the right hand side, below the search word, are three keys:

- press this to see the search results

- backspace to remove the last character you entered

- delete the whole word

Search results

When you touch the Search button, the keyboard will be replaced by a list
containing several groups of words: you can scroll down to see more. In
each group there will be:

the word with a similar spelling to the one that you entered

one or more words with the corresponding meaning in the other language

Arabic words will appear in european writing on the left and
in arabic writing on the right. Use Preferences
view to adjust the layout of
items on this display

For search word or related word, the app displays the following details:

The Verb and Examples buttons appear only if the corresponding information is available. The
usage rating is a star-rating: the more points on the star, the more common the word.

- daily

- regularly

- occasionally

- understood but rarely used

- not always understood

no star - unrated

If you click on the button for a word group,
the word entry will expand to show the thesaurus category and the grammatical forms for each word.
You can click on the button to collapse it again.

For each form of a related word, the app displays:

Item

Example

Touch action

play button

hear the word

word

children

form code

pl

see full name eg plural

If you click on the thesaurus category, you will go to the thesaurus view, which will show you
words with similar or related meanings.

Thesaurus view

You can get to the thesaurus view from the menu, or by touching a thesaurus
category in other views.

At the top of the screen, there are three controls

Language - the source language for the thesaurus

Section - select the section, eg food, which contains a number of categories

Category - select a category, eg fruit, which contains several of words with similar or related meanings

If you entered by
clicking on a thesaurus category in a different view, the details should be
be set for this category. If you entered from the menu, you should set the controls in the
order that they appear. Touch on each button to see a list of the available options.

The app displays a list of words with similar meanings in the source language, together with
related words in the other language. The format is the same as for the search view.

Example view

You can get to the examples view in three ways, depending on which examples you want to see.

examples for a particular word: touch the word in one of the other
views and select see examples

examples that feature a particular grammatical element: touch
an element (eg noun or verb)) and then select see examples

The screen is divided into three sections.

top: used to move through the set of examples

middle: the current example and its translation

bottom: details of the selected word in the current example

Move through the set of examples

The top section is used to move
through the set of examples, using left and right buttons. If there are a lot
of examples, a slider bar appears between the two buttons. Below this is an
indicator that shows you how far through the set you are, eg "13 of 20".

Example and translation

The middle section shows the example, in european and arabic writing. One
of the words is pale blue: the full details for this word are displayed below. To select
a different word, just touch the word.

Pronoun suffixes are shown separately from the word, to make the sentence
easier to understand. If this happens, you will normally see a tatweel extending
out from both the word and the suffix.

When mish is wrapped around another word, if you touch either half,
both halves go pale blue.

Following the example is a translation of the example,
and any notes about it.

Current word

The final section shows details of the word that is currently selected in the
example (the word that is pale blue).

Vocabulary view

You can use this view to manage a personal vocabulary list and help you to
learn the words in the list.

The app uses the Spaced Repetition System. Initially, new
words are repeated frequently: as your confidence grows, the word is gradually
repeated less frequently. Your assess your own confidence in your understanding
of a word by selecting a number between 1 (don't have a clue) and 5 (completely sure).

>

Initially, it works by first showing the meaning of the word, then
showing you the word itself: you can reverse this order in the options view.

You can add a particular word to your personal vocabulary list by finding it
in the search or thesaurus view, touching the word and then selecting add to
vocab from the menu.

You can also add groups of words suggested by the app, using the add
button at the top of this view: you can find more about this in the Vocabulary add view.

The app makes a note of the date that you added the word: in the Vocab options view
you can specify whether you want to review words added
today, this week, this month or all words

You can get to the vocabulary view from the main menu. If you
have already selected some words, it will find the words in the selected time
range and display the meaning of the first word:

When you think that you know the answer, click on See the answer and see whether
you were right: the app will then show you the word that
you are trying to learn, and all of its forms. You can click on the
buttons to hear somebody say the word form.
When you are ready to move on, click on Next word

To move on to the next word, rate your understanding of the word between 1 and 5, where
1 means that you didn't have a clue what the answer was, and 5 meaning that you
got the answer right and felt completely
confident before the answer was displayed. WOrds that you are confident about will gradually be repeated
less frequently

The facility to hide a word is useful if you are already sure about a word,
or a word was added automatically but you don't think that it is useful to learn.

Vocabulary options view

You can get to this view by touching the options button on the Vocabulary view.

You can use it to customise the way that the vocabulary view works. The options are:

time range - the app can just show words that you added today, or you can go further back to revise words that you added some time ago (a week, a month), or you can see all words

direction - normally, the app shows you the meaning of the word and asks for the meaning. Its useful to also test your learning the other way round, by showing the word and asking for the meaning.

play sound - when you turn this option on, the app automatically plays a recording of somebody saying the word as it is displayed

show hidden words - see all words, including hidden ones

Vocabulary add view

You can get to this view by touching the add button on the Vocabulary view.

You can use it to add a number of words to your personal vocabulary list.
To do this, you first specify how many and what kind or words you want.
The options are:

language - the language that you want to add words for

number of words - how many words to add. Most people find that about
10 words a day is a realistic learning objective.

mode - the app can select words randomly for you, or select the most commonly used words.

selection - the app can select words from three different groups:

all words

the words in a selected thesaurus category

words that are a particular grammatical element, eg nouns

Element - the type of word, eg verb or noun, to add.

Section - select a thesaurus section

Category - select thesaurus categories that are in the current section

When the app offers you a list of words, there is a switch next to each word:
if you don't want to add a particular word to your vocabulary list, just turn the switch off.
Once you are happy with your selection of words, touch add selected words to add
the words to your vocabulary list.

Note that the app will not add words that are already in your vocabulary list,
even if they are hidden.

Pronunciation view

You can use this view to improve your pronunciation. You first listen to
words containing a particular phoneme (sound) or group of letters. Next, you
record yourself saying a word and then compare your recording with the correct
pronunciation.

To use this view, first select the language that you want to practice, then specify
whether you want to select words by phoneme (sound) or by typing in a one or more letters.

If you select by phoneme, the iPad and iPhone versions are
slightly different. On the iPhone, you touch the current phoneme and then
pick a new phoneme from the spinner. On the iPad, the phoneme
list is displayed on the left: just touch one of the entries in the list.

If you select by letters, touch the letters field and then
type in one or more letters and press 'GO'.

Whichever selection method you use, the device will show you a list
of words: the selected phoneme or letter in each word will be highlighted.
The words are randomly selected: if you select the same phoneme or letters
again, you will see a different selection. When you touch on a word, the word
will be displayed just beneath the selection area, and you will hear somebody
saying the word. If you have not downloaded the sound database, please be
patient: it may take a few moments to get the sound form the internet.

Once you have selected a word, you can press the button to hear
the word again. You can also press the to record yourself sayin the word,
then press each of the buttons in turn to compare your version with the
correct one.

Grammar view

The grammar view provides a detailed introduction to Egyptian Arabic grammar.
There is a very simple introduction page to help get you started.
The rest is divided into pages that explain in detail how to use grammatical
elements like verbs and nouns, or common greetings and questions.

It works like a web browser, and you can follow links in the text

You can get to this view by selecting Arabic Grammar from the menu.
Once you are inside, you can get back to the contents page at any time by
pressing the Contents button on the top right.

The egyptian arabic examples are displayed both in European letters and in
arabic: there is also a play button that you can press to hear somebody say the example.

At the start of each page, there are buttons to select whether you want the version in
european writing to be pronounced or transliterated, and whether you want the arabic writing to appear at all.

Arabic writing view

The arabic writing view provides a list of all of the arabic letters used in
the dictionary, together with details of how they are written in european
writing. You can hear somebody speaking example words containing each letter.
It works like a web browser, and you can follow links in the text

Word details view

You can get to this view by touching a word (not a form) in one of the
other views, then selecting Show word details.

This view displays full details of the selected word. The
following details are always displayed:

Item

Example

word

have

language

English

element

verb

notes

own

flags

impolite, archaic

usage

daily

thesaurus category

food: fruit

The app displays a list of forms for the selected word, for example singular and plural:

Item

Example

Touch action

play button

hear the word

word

children

form

plural

The app next displays a list of related words in the other language. For
each word, it displays the following details:

Item

Example

Touch action

language code

EN

word

apple

see the word menu

element code

n

see the full name eg noun

Finally, the app displays a list of words with similar spellings. This may
help if you accidentally selected the wrong word, and can also help to find
related words. For
each word, it displays the following details:

Item

Example

Touch action

language code

EN

word

apple

see the word menu

element code

n

see the full name eg noun

Verb details view

You can get to this view by touching a word (not a form) in one of the
other views, then selecting Show verb details.

The app also displays the following details of all cases of the main tenses
of the verb:

the meaning of the case in English

the arabic word in european writing

the arabic word in arabic writing

If the word that you selected has more than one meaning, you can select which meaning to
display, using the control at the top of the display.

Note that this information is generated automatically: a word's presence does not necessarily
mean that the word is, or can be, used- for example 'he became pregnant' is
syntactically correct but useless. Please check the grammar help
on
verbs for general guidelines, and also use a little
common sense.

Preferences view

This view can be used to adjust various settings for the application.

General preferences

Left handed - Normally, the most important buttons are on the right hand
side of the display. Select this option to move them to the left hand side.

Impolite words - The dictionary contains a small number of impolite words:
if you do not want to see these words, you can use this option to replace
all such words with the text *Impolite*.

Sync preferences to iCloud - If you have more than one device, select this
option to ensure that your preferences are kept up to date on all devices.

Sync vocabulary to iCloud - If you have more than one device, select this
option to ensure that your personal vocabulary list is kept up to date on all
devices.

Note: to use the iCloud facility, you need to have iCloud enabled on your
device.

Arabic layout preferences

When you update any of the following settings, you can see immediately what
it will look like, by checking the example words that are displayed just below this section.

See
Arabic writing
for more information about
the transliterated and pronounced arabic, and about tashkyl.

European - egyptian words are displayed in european writing at the left of
the display. The preferences are:

none - select this if you prefer to see arabic writing only

transliterated- an exact representation of the arabic word

pronounced - a rough idea how to say the word

Capitalise alveolar consonants - If this option is off, all of the letters
appear in lower case letters. This is easier to read, but it's impossible to tell the
difference between the normal (eg syn) and alveolar (eg Saad) versions of some sounds.
If this option is on, the alveolar consonants are capitalised, so syn is s and saad is S.

Arabic - Egyptian words are normally displayed in arabic writing at the right
of the screen. You can turn this off if you find it distracting.

Tashkyl - Short vowels and shadda (tashkyl) are not normally written in
Arabic other than in the Quran. Tashkyl is essential for anybody learning to
read or write in arabic. The options are:

no tashkyl

show short vowels

show short vowels and sukun

Text size - If you are unfamiliar with arabic writing, you may find it
easier to read if you use this option to increase the size of the text in the
app compared to your preferred text size.

Example words

At the bottom of the display is a sample word: as you change the settings, the
sample word will be updated so that you can see what it will look like.

Sound view

If there is a play button next to a word form, you can click on it to hear
the word spoken.

The app can handle the sounds in two ways: you can either download all of
the sounds for a language in one go, or the app can fetch individual
sounds from the internet as required.

The former takes up space on your device but, once you have downloaded the
language, playing sounds is immediate and it will work even when you don't have
an internet connection.

You can use this view to download sound databases, each of which contains all
of the sounds for a language. The app displays the names of available databases: a
download button appears next to each database that you don't have, and a
tick appears next to each database that you have already downloaded.

Please make sure that your device is fully charged, or the charger is plugged in,
before you start downloading.

Help view

The help view provides an introduction to the application. You can access it by selecting Help from the main menu.
It works like a web browser, and you can follow links
in the text.

About view

This view contains the version, copyright notice and web site name for this application.